


It's Like You Hit Me With Lightning

by justyrae



Series: I Think I'm About to Lose My Mind [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, First Dates, Flirting, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Kissing, M/M, Rimming, Secret Relationship, Teasing, Unsafe Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 12:41:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis falls for Niall while Harry's falling for Liam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Like You Hit Me With Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> title from 'Starry Eyed' by Ellie Goulding

Louis wasn't the dating type. He spent too much time worrying about Harry to really take his own needs into consideration, but he didn't really mind all that much. He'd never put much stock in being in a relationship anyway, since he could take care of himself just fine.

It may also have had something to do with the number of relationships he'd witnessed Harry being a part of over the years. Louis may have been guilty of living vicariously through Harry, even when he was chastising him for his reckless behavior.

Louis was far from reckless. He had to be the responsible one, he had to make sure that he could take care of Harry – mainly because Harry had proven one too many times that he couldn't be trusted on his own.

But he'd seen a difference in Harry over the last few weeks, and Louis was hoping that Harry was finally starting to be ready for some legitimate responsibility. Louis had often endured many a talk with Harry's father, who was constantly wanting Harry to grow up and take action whereas his mother just wanted to see him happy.

For the first time since they died, Louis could finally let himself admit that maybe Harry was finally going to make both of them proud.

Perhaps that was why Louis had unwittingly let his guard down. He hadn't expected much from the animal shelter that Harry had become so deadset on saving, but he had to admit that he was impressed.

What he refused to admit, even to himself, was what impressed him more: the facility, or the boy who ran it.

Upon meeting Liam, Louis immediately understood why Harry had suddenly become so interested in the shelter. But his own interest had been piqued the moment he shook Niall's hand. Forcing himself to remember why he was there in the first place, he remained professional and pushed every hopeful thought from his mind as he was given a tour.

Louis found himself asking more questions of Liam than of Niall, ignoring the way his heart flip-flopped every time Niall's incredible blue eyes looked his way. Using his go-to defense mechanism, he chose to keep the attention on the shelter as much as possible. Adding in jokes at Harry's expense were natural to Louis, and they made the whole situation that much easier to deal with.

Harry, on the other hand, made everything far more difficult. The following day, Louis had intended on burying himself under a mountain of work to keep his mind off of Niall. He wanted to concentrate on expense reports and monotonous meetings about transatlantic business deals, not thinking about the curve of Niall's smile or imagining how soft Niall's hair would feel between his fingers.

Nope, he definitely did not want to think about that. But when Harry insisted on following him to the office and then proceeded to spend most of the morning whining about Liam, Louis thought he may have to commit murder.

Louis felt a little guilty for kicking Harry out of his office, but the guilt disappeared when he received a text from Harry letting him know where he went.

_At the shelter, waiting on Liam! :)_

Louis rolled his eyes before sending a reply. _Don't bother the poor boy, he's at work._

_Too late! :)_

Louis chuckled, rolling his eyes again as he put his phone off to the side of his desk.

As it turned out, even with Harry gone his mind still drifted back to Niall. He decided to start planning the event that the company was going to hold in honor of the donation.

It was going to be vastly different from any of their other events thus far, but Louis was up to the challenge. He had rather hoped that Harry would help him a bit more,  but once Liam came into the picture all of those hopes went out the window. Louis knew he'd have to handle this one on his own for the most part.

As he was going over the paperwork that Harry had passed along from Niall, an idea came to him. Maybe he wouldn't have to do it all himself if he could get some help from Niall, after all he seemed fairly interested in the whole thing.

Louis searched through the paperwork for Niall's contact information, and tapped his fingers on the desk absentmindedly as he briefly debated the idea once more. A number of thoughts crossed his mind for a moment, but he pushed them all aside before he picked up the phone.

Unlike Harry, and contrary to the thoughts he'd been having as of late, Louis was not planning on mixing business with pleasure.

Having decided that, Louis hoped and prayed that his heart wouldn't skip a beat when Niall answered his call. It did anyway.

"Niall? This is Louis Tomlinson, we met yesterday?"

"Yeah, Harry's keeper." Niall chuckled. "How can I help you out?"

"Well, I've been going over the paperwork for your shelter, and I was-"

"Oh Christ, I missed something, didn't I? I'm always forgetting something and-"

"Niall," Louis gently interrupted with a chuckle. "You're fine, mate. I was just looking for a bit more help, is all."

"Oh." Niall paused, laughing softly. "What sort of help?"

"Well, if you're interested, I'd love your help with the event. We could get together tonight and discuss it – over dinner, perhaps? On the company dime, of course."

"Ooh, a fancy dinner courtesy of Styles International? How can a bloke resist?"

Louis chuckled, trying to ignore the fact that his cheeks were turning red and Niall wasn't even in the same _building_ let alone the same room.

"I'll take that as a yes, then? I'll have my secretary set up a reservation and let you know the details-"

"Oh, don't make such a fuss. Just drop by the shelter later and we'll figure something out."

"O-Okay," Louis agreed, clearing his throat to prevent him from saying something he might regret. "I'll come 'round after I finish up here."

"Excellent." Louis didn't have to be around Niall to see his grin, he could hear it in his voice. "Looking forward to it."

"Y-Yeah." Louis shut his eyes, cursing himself for stuttering again. "See you later, then."

"Bye, Louis. Lovely chatting with you."

Niall hung up first, and Louis let out a shaky breath as he replaced the phone in its cradle on his desk. He tangled his fingers in his hair as he took several deep breaths, cursing himself in his head.

 _What the bloody hell was that_ , he asked himself. Louis took his hands away from his hair, shaking his head a few times before he tried to turn his attention back to his work, and not on the charming Irishman he would be seeing later that night.

*

Despite the number of hours that passed between when Louis called Niall and the time he actually left the office, Louis did little to no real work. He couldn't concentrate on anything really, and he'd found that the last time he tried to do his work without full concentration it nearly ended with several thousand pounds having been misplaced.

That really wasn't something Louis wanted to relive.

He arrived at the shelter just as Liam and Harry were exiting, though he quickly ducked into the shop next door to avoid being seen. It was silly, and he felt like an idiot, but for some reason he wanted to keep this perfectly legitimate meeting with Niall a secret. He wasn't quite sure of the reason, but he'd figure it out eventually.

Once Harry and Liam rounded the corner, Louis stepped out and walked the short distance to the front door of the shelter. He mumbled to himself to be calm, that this was just a normal dinner between two business associates and nothing to be so nervous about.

He put on a smile as he pushed through the door, seeing Zayn behind the front desk. Zayn looked up briefly, a small grin spreading on his face once he recognized Louis.

"Louis, right?" he asked as his eyes dropped back to the desk. "Here for Niall?"

"Yeah," Louis replied, amazed that his voice was working properly.

"You can go on back," Zayn said. "He's probably waiting for you."

Louis uttered a thank you as he passed by, but his ears perked up for a moment when he thought he heard Zayn mumble something that sounded suspiciously like "everyone's hooking up but me."

He called Niall's name cautiously as he wandered down the hallway, trying to remember which direction Niall's office had been in. Safe to say, Louis was relieved when a blonde head poked out of a room and an arm waved him down.

"Perfect timing," Niall said with a smile when Louis reached his office. "I was just finishing up."

"Excellent," Louis replied, standing in the doorway and starting to feel slightly awkward. Niall tapped and clicked away at his computer for another minute or two before he switched the monitor off and turned towards Louis.

"So, where are we going?" he asked, a larger grin spreading across his face as he looked at Louis.

"I was thinking about this Japanese place a few blocks away," Louis rambled slightly, his eyes flicking back and forth between Niall's and the floor. "I mean, unless you don't like Japanese, in which case-"

"Nah-" Niall interrupted. "I love Japanese! Have it all the time!"

Louis couldn't help but laugh at Niall's response, unable to keep a smile off his lips as he looked at him. Niall stood up and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair, gesturing for Louis to lead the way.

They made pointless conversation on the way to the restaurant, and Louis kept reminding himself that this was about _business_. This wasn't a date, and he should stop thinking about that at once or else it was going to distract him all evening.

"This place is cool," Niall commented as they sat down, twisting his head around to look at all of the decorations before accepting the menu from the hostess.

"It reminds me a bit of a place I went to in Kyoto last year," Louis mentioned offhandedly, trying to ignore the way Niall's eyes widened.

"That's in Japan, innit?" Niall asked and Louis nodded. "Never been to Japan, meself. Wouldn't mind going someday, though."

"Really? It's fantastic." Louis felt his smile widen as he started telling Niall about the last time he'd gone. Niall was so wrapped up in listening to Louis talk that by the time their waitress came along, he hadn't even glanced at the menu in his hands.

"Uh, I um-" he stuttered as he glanced down at the pages before him, knowing full well that he had absolutely no idea what to order.

"Do you need a minute?" Louis asked as he hesitated to ask the waitress to come back.

"No, I, um- I'll just have whatever you're having." He closed his menu and linked his hands together on top of it. "You're the expert, after all."

Louis tried not to blush as he ordered a number of things that Niall had never heard of, but he was never one to turn down a challenge. Silence fell upon them once the waitress walked away, and Niall tapped his thumbs together nervously as Louis scratched his ear.

"So…" Niall mumbled, hoping that Louis had _something_ for them to talk about to break the awkward silence.

"Right, uh- the event, then?"

"Yeah! Uh," Niall chuckled a little before he cleared his throat. "What'd you have in mind?"

Louis began to list a few ideas he'd come up with earlier in the day, pausing between each one to ask Niall his opinion. Just as he'd hoped, Niall was far more helpful than Harry ever was when it came to planning. The fact that he could answer all of Niall's questions regarding the facility definitely helped as well.

Their conversation actually didn't stray from legitimate business talk until their food arrived, and Niall stared at the various plates in front of him with wide eyes. Louis thanked the waitress, glancing at Niall and noticing the rather panicked look on his face.

"Everything alright?" he asked, and Niall quickly looked up and let out a chuckle.

"Great, yeah, I- uh-" Niall chuckled again, more nervous this time, before he leaned forward. "Just have a tiny confession to make."

"What's that?" Louis asked with a hint of a smile.

"Never actually had Japanese food before."

Louis snickered softly as he picked up his chopsticks and split them. "Had a feeling."

Niall breathed a sigh of relief as Louis explained what he had ordered for them, taking special consideration to tell him to _not_ eat the wasabi by itself. Louis had already had to endure that once with Harry, and once was enough. Once he finished, Niall nodded as though he understood everything that Louis had said, though truth be told all of the names had already run together in his mind.

"What about this?" he asked as he carefully picked up a bowl full of steaming liquid.

"Miso soup. Drink it, it's rather good."

"You just…drink it?" Niall asked, slowly bringing it to his lips once Louis nodded. It slightly too hot to drink just yet but he enjoyed the flavor, enough that he ignored the fact that his tongue was burning.

"Good?" Louis asked.

"Yeah," Niall replied with a smile. "Glad I asked, though. Probably would've ended up trying to dip something in it, or pour it on my rice like a complete nutter."

The two of them laughed, though Niall was being completely serious. He'd always had a bit of an odd approach when it came to trying new food, but in times past he'd tried new things with his brother who was far less likely to say he was about to make a fool of himself.

"D'you mind if I use my fingers? Dunno if I can handle…" Niall trailed off as he gestured to Louis' chopsticks, and Louis responded with a laugh.

"Do what you've gotta do, mate."

Niall hesitantly reached his hand out towards a piece of sushi, knowing that Louis was watching his every move. He caught Louis' eye and let out a soft chuckle as he pointed to the piece his hand was hovering over.

"Which one's that, again?"

"Tekkamaki." Louis smiled. "It's tuna."

"Right." Niall took a deep breath as he picked it up and popped it in his mouth. Louis fought a smile as he watched Niall chew, the expression on his face showing mild confusion before he swallowed.

"Well?" Louis asked, holding back a laugh as Niall took a sip of water.

"Interesting," he replied with a smile. "I think I liked it."

Louis couldn't help but laugh, and Niall found himself thinking how adorable it was to see the way his eyes crinkled and his whole body shook with laughter. Niall always loved making people laugh, but he thought that perhaps Louis was now his favorite person to see laugh.

"What should I try next?"

Over the next half an hour, Louis picked different things for Niall to try and watch his reaction.  He liked most of the rolls that Louis had ordered, but there were a few that caused him to gag and almost spit them out in his napkin. Louis found those reactions to be his favorites, mostly because Niall would pull the most ridiculous faces.

"That was horrid! What was that?"

"Eel," Louis answered between giggles. Niall shook his head furiously as he sipped his water, sloshing it around in his mouth to get rid of the taste.

"Absolutely awful. Never again."

"Alright, alright." Louis snickered. "I'll eat the rest of those." He picked up one with his chopsticks and popped it in his mouth, smiling as he chewed while Niall shuddered.

"Disgusting."

"Delicious," Louis replied. Niall rolled his eyes but still smiled. He watched as Louis continued using his chopsticks, picking up another piece of the eel roll to eat it.

Niall picked up his own pair of chopsticks, which were still attached since he hadn't even bothered to look at them until that moment. He pulled them apart, marveling at the fact that he managed not to break one before he tried to hold them in the same way Louis did.

Once he thought he had it, Niall tried his luck with picking up the roll nearest him. He was concentrating so hard that he hadn't realized that Louis was watching him intently, a small smile on his lips.

For a moment, Niall held the roll between his chopsticks and he looked at Louis with a huge grin. And then one slipped from his fingers and the roll fell back onto the platter, causing Niall to groan and Louis to chuckle.

"Definitely not as easy as it looks," he mumbled as he put his remaining chopstick back down before resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

"Here, I'll help." Louis smiled warmly as he picked up the piece that Niall had dropped with his own chopsticks and held it out to Niall. He innocently assumed that Niall would just take it from him with his hands, but Niall had another idea.

He leaned forward and opened his mouth, sticking his tongue out just enough to make it the whole action far more sexual than Louis could ever have imagined. Niall kept his eyes on Louis as he wrapped his mouth around the roll between the chopsticks, sucking them lightly before pulling back and closing his eyes as he chewed.

While Niall's eyes were closed, Louis picked up a piece for himself, leaving his chopsticks in his mouth a few seconds longer than necessary as he ate it.

How the night had just turned from a business meeting to two blokes having a friendly dinner to something that could be the start of an adult movie, Louis had no idea. But he'd be lying if he said that he hadn't enjoyed the transition immensely.

The remainder of the meal was spent with the two of them sharing soft smiles and stolen glances when the other wasn't looking. Louis felt his cheeks burn on more than one occasion, but he hoped that the dim lighting of the restaurant was enough to hide it.

Once the bill was paid, the pair exited the restaurant and stood outside on the sidewalk for a few minutes. Neither of them were quite sure what to say to the other, but Louis was the first to break the silence and offer to walk Niall back to the shelter.

"Actually," Niall replied with a soft laugh. "Me flat is only a couple blocks from here."

"Oh, well that's convenient." Louis laughed.

"Innit?" Niall also laughed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat as a silence fell over the two of them once more.

"Well," Louis began, breaking the silence again. "I'd say this was a rather successful meeting, wouldn't you?"

Niall chuckled lightly, nodding his head in response as he stuttered out a response of, "Y-Yeah. Absolutely."

"Although I think we could use a bit more planning," Louis continued, looking down at the sidewalk so he wouldn't lose his nerve. "So we should probably do this again tomorrow night."

Niall bit his lip to keep an enormously large grin from spreading across his face, utterly failing the second he opened his mouth. "Definitely. There's loads more we could talk about."

"Glad we're on the same page," Louis replied, taking a chance and looking into Niall's eyes. His heart swelled when their eyes met, and he forced himself to look away. "I'll, uh, just come by 'round the same time, then?"

"Yeah," Niall answered quickly, taking a moment to clear his throat before he said in a calmer voice, "I mean, yeah, that'd be- that'd be good."

"Excellent," Louis said softly. "Good night, Niall." He extended his hand, willing it not to shake. Niall did the same as he reached out to take Louis' hand, and they both felt a spark ignite in their chests as their skin touched, but neither noticed the other's reaction.

"Night," Niall replied, reluctantly letting go of Louis' hand before he turned away and started walking down the sidewalk. He got about ten steps away before he realized he was walking in the wrong direction.

He turned back around, muttering sheepishly under his breath as he passed by Louis again. Louis did his best not to laugh, but couldn't help himself when it came to watching Niall walk away.

He returned home, ignoring Harry asking where he'd been as he made his way to his room and collapsed onto his bed. He closed his eyes, picturing Niall's face as he slowly fell asleep.

*

The following day, Niall was far more bouncy than usual. His coworkers were used to him being all smiles and laughs, but his behavior was getting downright ridiculous. Liam had already kicked Niall out of his office several times throughout the morning, claiming that he couldn't get any work done "with you just sitting there beaming like the bloody sun!"

Niall couldn't help it. It was physically impossible for him not to smile, because every time he thought about the night before with Louis he would start to smile. And to be perfectly honest, he hadn't stopped thinking about it since he left Louis' side.

Around lunchtime, Niall's phone buzzed with a text message. He was sitting outside with Liam and Zayn at a coffee shop down the street from the shelter, and neither had thought it possible that Niall's smile could actually get any wider.

_Got an idea for dinner tonight, if you're still feeling adventurous_

"From your mystery bloke?" Liam asked, and Niall looked up from the screen just to have his cheeks turn red. Zayn gave him a quizzical look as he sipped his coffee, looking back and forth between the two before he snickered to himself.

"Maybe," Niall finally answered in a mumble as he typed out a reply.

_As long as it's not more eel, I'm up for it! :)_

"When are you going to tell me who it is?" Liam asked, his tone slightly exasperated. Zayn snickered again as he put his cup down on the table and laced his fingers together.

"Yeah, Niall. When are you going to tell?" Zayn quirked his eyebrows and grinned, already knowing full well who was texting Niall and finding it absolutely hilarious that he hadn't told Liam yet.

"None of your business, innit?" Zayn snickered again and Liam let out a haughty laugh.

"It's my business when you won't stop mooning over him and I've got no idea who he is!"

"Don't wanna jinx it," Niall replied softly before his phone buzzed again and he glanced down at the screen.

_There's an Indian place near my office I've been dying to try. I'll send a car to get you around 5:30 :)_

Niall bit his lip, still smiling like an idiot as he worked on his response.

_A car? Getting fancy on me now! Sounds fantastic :)_

"Sometimes, I swear," Liam started with a laugh, looking at Zayn, "you're the only sane one 'sides me. And that's saying something, 'cause you're quite mad."

"Cheers, mate." Zayn rolled his eyes, reaching over to punch Liam in the arm. Liam rolled his eyes and finished his coffee, standing up as Niall pocketed his phone.

"I'm getting another coffee, want anything?"

Both Niall and Zayn replied they were fine, and Liam headed back inside. Niall chewed his lip absentmindedly until Zayn looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"What's on your mind, Nialler?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. "Just…you've had Indian food, yeah?"

"What?" Zayn asked, peering at Niall over his coffee cup.

"Indian food. You've had it before, right? Because you're…"

"I'm what?" Zayn was full-on smirking now, eager to see how Niall was going to talk himself out of this one.

"Y'know…you're…" Niall started to say something but stretched out the sound so much that Zayn thought his face may actually stick if Niall kept going long enough.

"Pakistani."

"Pakistani," Niall blurted at the same time, trying to hide the fact that he'd had no idea. "Exactly, yeah." He cleared his throat. "That's close, right?"

Zayn let out a loud laugh, having to put his coffee cup down to avoid spilling it all over himself.

"You're a massive twat, you know that? That's racist, that is."

"I'm not racist!" Niall protested. "I'm uncultured, there's a difference."

"Right, that's _so_ much better," Zayn replied, but Niall could tell from his smile that he was more amused than offended. "But to answer your question, yes, I've had Indian food."

"Oh, good." Niall nodded. He stayed silent for a minute before he looked at Zayn again. "Is it any good?"

"Uh, yeah, I reckon it's pretty good." Zayn laughed. "It can be spicy, and some people think all Indian food gives you the shits, but it's not entirely true."

"Oh, well that's good." Niall nodded again and Zayn let out another laugh.

"Is your boytoy taking you out for Indian?"

"Maybe," Niall mumbled through another smile, his mind immediately popping back to thinking of Louis. Zayn rolled his eyes just as Liam came back to their table and sat back down.

"Did I miss anything?" Niall shook his head and Zayn chuckled.

"Niall's a racist, but other than that, no." Liam blinked and gave Niall the most confused look he'd ever seen, causing Zayn to erupt in a fit of laughter. Niall slumped down in his chair and covered his face, hiding from Zayn's laughter and Liam's disapproving look.

Niall spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in his own office, rather than Liam's. He kept looking at the two texts that Louis had sent, his fingers itching to send him another one to ask how his day was going. But Niall wasn't sure if that was going too far, since he wasn't really sure what their relationship was at that point.

His mind drifted back to the night before, when Louis had fed him. Like all the others, he smiled at the thought and a slight brush crept over his cheeks. It was little moments like that that had given him the hope that there was something more to what they were doing, even if they hadn't admitted anything yet.

 _Yet_ , he told himself. It was a strange sort of comfort, that little word gave him. The hope of another day, another date with Louis was enough to get him through the day.

Niall looked at his clock, groaning softly when he realized it was only a little after three. He glanced down at his phone, deciding to throw caution to the wind and text Louis again.

He typed out and erased several possibilities before he cursed himself for acting like a preteen schoolgirl. He's an adult for chrissakes, he should be able to write a simple text message without agonizing over every word.

_Can't wait for tonight :)_

As soon as he pressed send, he chucked his phone across his desk and buried his head in his hands. When he lifted his head again, he realized that he was still grinning like an idiot and he was thankful to be alone in his office.

Niall didn't expect an answer, really, he didn't. But just because he didn't expect one didn't mean he wasn't _hoping_ for one. So when his phone buzzed, Niall practically launched himself over his desk in his attempt to grab it as quickly as possible to read what Louis had sent back.

_Same here :)_

If Niall were a girl, he would've squealed. And he might've, a little, but nobody heard him and he sure as hell wasn't ever going to admit it aloud.

*

By the time five o'clock rolled around, Niall was entirely restless. He ventured out of his office, peering around the halls of the shelter to see if anyone was still around. He knew Liam would be, if only for another fifteen minutes or so.

Harry had been showing up around this time for the last few days, and Niall had taken every opportunity given to poke a bit of fun at Liam. He really had no right to, and he knew it, but he wasn't going to let that ruin his fun.

"Off to see your pups?" he called out as Liam popped out of his office. He looked up, catching Niall's eye as he shook his head.

"You just wait, Horan." He rolled his eyes. "As soon as I find out who you've been sneaking off with, I'm going to give you just as much shit as you've been giving me."

"Can't wait, Leeyum." Niall grinned. Liam waved him off, turning his back as he walked away. He waited a few minutes, then locked his own office and followed in the same direction.

Zayn was just slinging his bag over his shoulder as Niall stepped through the doorway, Harry and Liam having just left through the front door. Zayn raised an eyebrow as he looked at Niall, and he returned the look.

"What?"

"Nothin'," Zayn replied with a small grin. "You're all mad."

"We're all mad here," Niall said with a laugh. "It's in the job description."

Zayn rolled his eyes, not bothering to answer as he sidestepped Niall to head out the door. Once the door shut behind him, Niall snuck a peek at his phone to check the time. Sadly, it was only ten after five.

Rather than wandering the halls of the shelter for the next twenty minutes, Niall decided to get a bit of fresh air. He headed out the front door, locking it behind him before he inhaled deeply and let out a relieved sigh.

One minute down, nineteen to go.

Or so Niall thought, anyway, because not one minute later there was a shiny black sedan pulling up next to him. The door closest to him opened and Niall bent down, smiling when he saw Louis' face.

"You're early," he said with a laugh.

"Got bored," Louis replied, gesturing for Niall to climb in.

The ride to the restaurant was silent, not entirely awkward but not exactly comfortable. Niall felt tense, mainly because their hands were inches away from each other on the seat between them and he longed to bridge the gap.

Instead, he pressed his other hand against his mouth and looked out the window at the streets passing by. He hadn't realized he was humming to himself until he felt Louis' hand brush against his arm and he quickly turned his head.

"We're here, mate."

"Great," he replied quickly, following Louis as he slid out of the car.

It didn't take long for them to be seated, and Niall immediately opened his menu with the intent to actually order for himself this time around. However, after a quick once-over of the menu, he closed it again and looked at Louis.

"Something wrong?" Louis asked, a smile quirking at the edge of his mouth.

"I've got no idea what any of that is," Niall answered as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "Looks like you'll be ordering for both of us again."

"I don't mind," Louis replied as his eyes drifted back to his menu, his smile far more prominent now. Niall smiled as well, not taking his eyes off Louis as he studied the menu.

The meal progressed in the same manner as the night before, with the two talking about business before the food came and then promptly forgetting all about it. Louis again explained what everything was, though Niall kept asking before he tried anything.

Maybe Niall was really forgetful, or maybe he just wanted to keep hearing Louis talk. He'd never admit to either anyway.

"Huh, s'funny," Niall mumbled halfway through the meal.

"What is?" Louis asked.

"S'not as spicy as I thought it'd be." Louis chuckled.

"I can make it spicier, if you like." Niall couldn't stop himself from quirking an eyebrow, liking the implications of Louis' statement even if he was making it all up in his head.

"G'head."

"You sure?" Louis asked, his hand pausing hesitantly over the small plate of peppers he'd requested but had kept off to the side of the table. Niall grinned.

"Said I was up for a challenge, didn't I?"

"Alright," Louis replied with a laugh. "That you did." He prepared a small dish for Niall, sprinkling a few cut up bits of pepper before he passed it over.

"Cheers," Niall remarked with a smirk as he took a large bite.

Louis watched him carefully, his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he waited for a reaction.

"S'not that b-" Niall paused, having finally bit down on one of the peppers and his mouth immediately felt as though it had caught on fire. He fought the urge to cry out, forcing himself to keep a straight face as he reached for his glass of water.

"You alright?" Louis asked, fighting a laugh as he watched Niall gulp down large mouthfuls of water.

"Fine," Niall said as he took a breath. "Hardly feel it."

Louis couldn't help his laughter as Niall drained his glass, looking around for their waitress before reaching over and grabbing Louis' instead.

"Hey!" Louis protested half-heartedly, still snickering to himself. Niall drank about half his water before he put it back down, breathing heavily as he pushed the plate away from him.

"Christ," he breathed, a light chuckle escaping with it. "They pack a punch, don't they?"

"I warned you," Louis said, starting to laugh again as Niall stared at him in disbelief.

"You did no such thing!"

"I did too!" Niall shook his head, starting to chuckle along with Louis. "Tell you what, we'll get you some ice cream after to make up for it."

"Now that's an idea I can get behind," Niall replied with a smile.

Once the promise of dessert had entered the equation, neither seemed very interested in finishing the rest of the food on the table. Louis requested the bill the next time their waitress came by, and Niall tried to fight him on who was to pay.

"Absolutely not," Louis said, refusing to pass it over to Niall.

"Oh come on, you got last night! It's only fair."

"No!" Louis replied with a smile. "I'm treating you. Besides, this is still _technically_ a business dinner."

Niall chuckled lightly, shaking his head at the thought. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, mate."

"I sleep just fine, thank you." Louis smirked as he passed the bill to their waitress.

No less than fifteen minutes later, Niall and Louis were walking down the street towards an ice cream shop. Niall hummed loudly as he looked at all the different flavors, and Louis watched with a smile.

"What're you getting?" Niall asked, turning to look at Louis. He shrugged his shoulders as he stepped up to the counter.

"Dunno. Might not get anything."

"You have to!" Niall protested and Louis laughed.

"Alright, alright." He turned to the kid behind the counter and asked, "mint, if you please. In a cup."

"Chocolate, for me." Niall grinned. "In a cone."

"You're going to make a mess, aren't you?" Louis quipped.

"You'll see."

Louis and Niall settled in a pair of chairs outside the shop, eating their ice cream silently. Well, Louis was silent. Niall was, as Louis predicted, making a mess and making the most ridiculous noises as he tried to keep his ice cream from melting all over himself.

He kept switching the cone from one hand to the other, sucking the melting chocolate from his fingers and the side of the cone before taking large licks of the scoop itself. Louis tried not to stare, but the way Niall was using his tongue was so mesmerizing that he couldn't look away.

"You're bloody obscene," he remarked softly, smirking to himself as he scraped some ice cream from his cup and sucked it from his spoon.

Niall paused in his endeavor and gave Louis an amused look.

" _I'm_ obscene?" He chuckled. "What you're doing with that spoon is downright pornographic."

Louis quickly pulled the spoon out of his mouth, ignoring the fact that his cheeks were turning red. He was so intent on _not_ looking at Niall that he almost missed him muttering one word a few seconds later.

" _Tease._ "

This piqued Louis' interest, and his predilection for showing off began to show through as he started eating his ice cream again. He was still purposefully not looking at Niall, but he took his time with licking each mouthful of ice cream off of his spoon in such a way that would've made anyone wonder what he was imagining the spoon to be.

Unlike Louis, Niall kept his eyes on him as he too continued to eat his ice cream. Taking long, almost lewd licks and taking every opportunity to wrap his lips around the cone and going on about how delicious it was.

Louis tried to sneak looks, though Niall always seemed to catch his eye and raise his eyebrows whenever Louis glanced his way. Louis turned in his chair, suddenly facing Niall as he scraped the bottom of the cup with his spoon for the last bits of his ice cream.

Then, once he'd licked the spoon dry, Louis stared directly at Niall as he dipped his pointer finger in the cup and picked up what the spoon had left behind. Niall froze, unable to tear his eyes away as Louis sucked the melted ice cream off his finger with a soft moan.

"Delicious," Louis said in a tone that was far too suggestive to come off as casual. Niall cleared his throat, chucking the rest of his cone in the bin next to them since he knew deep down the only thing he wanted to taste now was Louis.

Louis knew full well what he was doing, and judging by the look in Niall's eyes it was working out extremely well. He stood up from his chair, biting back a laugh as Niall scrambled to do the same.

"Well," Louis began, keeping his voice remarkably professional despite the fact that he could feel the heat and desire radiating from Niall. "Another successful dinner, I think."

"Yeah," Niall croaked, quickly clearing his throat. "Definitely."

"Pleasure, Niall, as always." Louis stepped forward, holding out his hand to the very confused boy standing before him. He looked down at Louis' hand and then back up at his face before slowly reaching out and shaking it.

"Likewise," he replied softly. Louis smiled, chuckling lightly as he noticed a bit of chocolate at the edge of Niall's mouth. He let go of Niall's hand and reached up, wiping it away with his thumb.

He made sure to look directly at Niall as he slipped his thumb between his lips and sucked lightly, making a soft noise of approval.

"I'll have to get some of that, next time." Louis winked, and Niall felt a shiver pass through his whole body.

"Next time?"

Louis smiled again, stepping closer as if he was going to pass by Niall entirely, but he paused to put his lips to Niall's ear.

"Same time tomorrow?" he whispered, fighting the urge to taste Niall's skin now that his mouth was so close to him. Niall shuddered again as Louis chuckled softly.

Louis went to take another step away from Niall, pausing only because Niall's arm flew out and caught his elbow. He slowly turned back around to look at Niall, who was breathing heavily as he looked back at Louis.

He dropped his hand from Louis' elbow and laughed softly, catching Louis off guard just enough to step forward and press a kiss to his cheek before whispering,

"Can't wait."

*

The rest of the week followed in the same fashion, with the two of them going out to dinner every night. Louis continued to write them off as "business expenses", though with each meal that passed they talked less and less business.

The night following the Indian meal, they went out for Thai. Louis made sure that Niall stayed away from anything that was too spicy for him to handle. Niall was very appreciative, and as a whole he admitted that he was a fan of Thai food.

And not just because he'd gotten Louis to feed him again (though it did help). Niall was quite crafty when he wanted to be, and he quickly discovered that if he resisted trying something long enough, Louis would offer it from his own hand.

So there was a bit of pandering going on between them, but neither really cared. Niall wouldn't give it up for anything in the world, and Louis enjoyed it just as much as he did.

The night ended with Louis extending his hand to Niall, but this time he didn't take it. Niall looked at him with a mildly devious glint in his eye before pulling him into a hug. He swiftly kissed Louis' cheek just like he had the night before and chuckled against his ear.

"See you tomorrow."

Niall pulled back and turned away from Louis, who had been left completely stunned by his actions. He didn't move until Niall had disappeared from his sight, and it was then that he realized the full effect that Niall had had on him.

Namely, his jeans were far tighter now than they had been five minutes before.

He cursed Niall under his breath as he slid into a taxi, pulling out his phone after he'd told the driver where to go. He glanced out the window for a moment, looking down the street where Niall had disappeared before he typed out a message.

_You'll pay for that one, Horan._

A reply came through within seconds, and Louis chuckled as he read it.

_Looking forward to it ;)_

Louis spent the rest of the night lying in his bed, picturing Niall's face every time he closed his eyes and his mind reeling with ideas of how he was going to retaliate.

*

The next day, Louis resisted the urge to text Niall first thing in the morning. He wanted to, so badly, but he knew once he sent one text, he wouldn't be able to stop. Contrary to popular belief, Louis really did have work to do.

When lunchtime rolled around and Louis hadn't yet texted, Niall took the initiative.

_So where are we going tonight?_

Louis chuckled softly before he replied, _you'll see when we get there._

_But I want to knowwww! :(_

_Be patient, Nialler._ _It'll be worth it :)_

_I'm holding you to that ;)_

Louis chuckled again before groaning and putting his phone in a drawer so he'd stop staring at it. It was barely past one and all he wanted to do was go pick up Niall and go to dinner.

He laid his head down on his desk and took a deep breath, closing his eyes and willing his brain to think of _anything_ other than Niall. A minute later, he jumped at the sound of his work phone ringing. He waited a second before he picked it up and greeted the caller in a slightly irritated voice.

"Well you don't sound very happy to hear from me."

"Harry," Louis mumbled. "I don't have time for this."

"I haven't seen you in days!"

"You saw me this morning," Louis answered with a chuckle. Harry sighed on the other end of the line and let out a whimper.

"But you've been gone every night when I get home, and then when you finally do get home, you go into your room and ignore me!"

Louis sighed heavily, unable to deny it because that's exactly what he had been doing the last three days in a row.

"I've just been busy," he said, trying to come up with a better lie than, "y'know, work stuff."

"You're never too busy for me." Louis could practically hear Harry pouting, and he rolled his eyes.

"We'll catch up this weekend, yeah?"

"Tomorrow night?" Louis sighed.

"Got a dinner meeting." Even though he hadn't asked Niall yet, Louis hoped that their pattern would continue.

"Saturday?" Harry asked, his voice raising with a hopeful tone.

"Yeah. Wait-" Louis groaned. "I can't."

"Why?" Harry whined.

"Because, _Harold_ , I'm running a company and sometimes that means working on Saturdays."

He glanced down at his calendar, realizing that until that moment he'd completely forgotten about having a full day on Saturday. He and a few other members of the board had had it planned for months, and it included both lunch and dinner. He hadn't even thought about the fact that he wouldn't be able to get dinner with Niall that night. And now Harry was probably going to monopolize all of his time on Sunday, so there was no way he'd be able to sneak away for dinner.

"Sunday, then. You're all mine. No exceptions."

"Shouldn't you be bothering Liam to hang out with you?" Louis asked, snickering softly.

"Don't want him to get sick of me, now do I?" Harry laughed. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that."

"Right," Louis replied. "Harry, I've gotta go but I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, alright. Love you, Lou."

"You too, Haz."

Louis hung up his phone and immediately dropped his head back down onto his desk. He checked the time again and groaned. Barely ten minutes had passed.

*

The shiny black car pulled up in front of the shelter no more than five minutes after Liam and Harry left, and Niall was waiting outside with a smile.

"So do I get to know what we're having yet?" he asked after he closed the door behind him. Louis smiled, tearing his eyes away from Niall as he told the driver they were ready to go.

"Ethiopian." Niall raised an eyebrow and hummed softly.

"That's a new one."

"What, not even going to try and say you've had it before?" Louis quipped, his smile turning into a smirk. Niall rolled his eyes but couldn't conceal his smile.

"You wouldn't have believed anyway."

"You'll like it," Louis assured him as he turned towards the window. "You eat with your hands."

Because his head was turned away from Niall, Louis didn't see the way his body tensed at that remark. Niall ran his hand through his hair, tugging once firmly before he cleared his throat as quietly as he could and told himself to stay calm.

Louis' bottom lip was secure between his teeth, causing just enough pain to keep his mind on anything but reaching across the seat to touch Niall.

This time, Niall didn't even bother opening his menu. He watched Louis as he thumbed through the pages, occasionally saying the names of dishes aloud. Each time, he would look at Niall for some input, even though he knew he wouldn't get any.

"Whatever you get, I'll eat. I trust you." Niall smiled.

"Even after the peppers?" Louis smirked and Niall rolled his eyes.

"You made up for that." Niall winked and Louis's mind snapped back to the ice cream. He suddenly felt a bit faint as he imagined Niall's mouth wrapped around the cone, sucking the melting ice cream from his fingers and the way his tongue slid across his lips.

Louis practically jumped when their waiter came over to take their order, but Niall didn't laugh. He watched fondly as Louis gave their order, smiling cheekily as he passed his menu to the waiter.

"So," Niall began. "Are we still pretending that these are business meetings?"

"Dunno what you're on about," Louis said as he looked down at the table, but Niall could still see his smile.

"Right, because you're _so_ professional." Niall snickered.

"I am extremely professional, thank you." Louis stuck out his tongue at Niall, who laughed even louder in response.

"Yes, absolutely. You're the finest executive I've ever met. It's impressive, really, for a five-year-old."

"Oh, sod off." Louis tried to sound stern, but couldn't help his laughter.

"Really, though," Niall continued, "I mean, like- this is more, yeah?"

"More?" Louis asked as he swallowed hard, hoping it wasn't noticeable.

"Yeah, like, not just business associates, but like, mates, or summat?"

"Yeah," Louis replied. "Mates. Absolutely."

"Cool."

Both Niall and Louis stayed silent for a while after that, both feeling a little off. Louis' mind was reeling with thoughts that he'd been over-thinking everything and honestly, he felt a little embarrassed and upset that Niall had led him on.

Niall, on the other hand, had been hoping that Louis would've said something, _anything_ , to let him know that they were even more than mates. In Niall's mind, mates didn't have dinner four nights in a row. Mates didn't kiss each other on the cheek, and mates most certainly did not dream about each other doing, well, much more than kissing.

Not that he had. Really. Not often, anyway.

When their food finally arrived, Niall stared at it for a minute and then up at Louis like he'd grown an extra head.

"What the…?" Louis couldn't help but chuckle.

"What? It's all delicious, I promise."

"It looks like mush."

"Delicious mush!" Niall rolled his eyes, a voice in the back of his head murmuring _c'mon can't we go for burgers or summat just once_.

"Alright, alright. What should I have first?"

Louis smiled, beginning to explain what he'd ordered. Once they started eating, it was almost as if their earlier conversation hadn't happened. They fell back into the habits they'd formed over the last few days, talking and joking with each other as they ate.

They even swapped turns with feeding each other, though Louis was far better at it than Niall.

"You did that on purpose!" Louis said between giggles as he tried to clean his face off. Niall snickered, hiding his mouth behind his hand as he watched Louis struggle.

"Can't prove it," he replied with a cheeky smile. Louis rolled his eyes, swiping his finger through a bit of wat that was still left on the plate between them before he smudged it onto Niall's nose.

Niall stared at him open-mouthed as Louis tore a piece of injera and popped it in his mouth, smiling widely as he chewed. Niall shook his head as he wiped the wat off his nose with his napkin.

"So that's how it is?" Louis raised his eyebrows, still smiling.

"Yep," he replied. Niall chuckled lightly, tapping his fingers on the table.

"Alright. You just wait."

No more than half an hour later, Niall and Louis had left the restaurant and were wandering down the sidewalk. Louis had the idea of searching for dessert, and even though Niall agreed, neither were really looking that hard.

They rounded a corner and Louis stopped walking, pressing his back against the building behind him before Niall realized and took a few steps back.

"Lou?"

"We're more than mates, right?" Louis asked softly. Niall sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against the wall too, standing beside Louis.

"Dunno. Are we?" Louis shrugged in response, mimicking Niall.

"Mates don't plan out dinners a night in advance, do they?" Louis asked in the same soft tone, and this time Niall chuckled.

"Already planned tomorrow, then?" He turned towards Louis, making Louis' heart speed up as the space between them grew smaller.

"I was thinking French," he replied, turning towards Niall so they were now facing each other. "I know a place…the menu's in French, though."

Niall chuckled. "I don't know French."

"What do they teach in those Irish schools?" Louis asked, chuckling softly.

"Mainly how to throw a punch and hold your liquor," Niall replied with a smile. Louis chuckled again, tilting his head up to look into Niall's eyes.

"Well, lucky for you, I'm fluent in French."

Niall laughed, tearing his eyes away from Louis for a moment before stepping closer.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Louis bit his bottom lip, laughing once more. He then leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Niall's cheek, closing his eyes and enjoying the way Niall's breath hitched. He pulled back, lifting his hand to trail his fingers down Niall's chest before he spoke again.

"A demain, Niall."

Louis took a step back and turned away, intent on walking away from Niall. He paused when he heard Niall's voice, but didn't turn back around.

"Whazzat mean?" Louis turned his head just enough for Niall to see his profile, but not enough to make eye contact.

"See you tomorrow."

*

"Louis…you're not paying attention to me!"

"Sorry, Haz." Louis blinked, having been snapped out of his thoughts when Harry spoke. Perdita whined from his lap, and he also realized he'd been petting her absentmindedly while lost in his own mind.

"You're doing it again!" Harry groaned. "What are you thinking about, anyway?"

"Nothing," he replied, resuming petting Perdita as he concentrated on Harry. "You were saying?"

Harry started talking again, and Louis remembered why he'd zoned out in the first place. Harry had been talking about nothing but Liam for the last hour.

It wasn't his fault, Louis knew that Harry needed advice and since Louis was his best friend, he should've been able to help. But the truth was that Louis was in no position to give anyone advice about what to do when it came to possible relationships.

Like Harry, Louis hadn't been able to get his mind off a certain boy either. He kept replaying Friday night over and over in his head, trying not to let anything slip to Harry about who he'd been having dinner with every night.

The meal had gone well, even after Niall adamantly refused to try escargot. He said he had no problems with peppers and weird looking mush, but he drew the line at slimy-looking snails.

But it wasn't the meal that Louis kept thinking about. It was what happened after, in the alleyway near the restaurant.

Niall had pulled Louis down the sidewalk and around the corner, ignoring Louis when he asked where they were going. Niall didn't say a word until they rounded the corner and he pressed Louis against a wall.

"Niall, what-" He put his finger to Louis' lips, silencing him immediately.

"I wanted to thank you for dinner, the French way." Niall pulled his hand away and Louis stared at him in confusion.

"What are y-"

Niall pressed his mouth to Louis' and even though it caught him off guard, Louis almost immediately melted into the kiss and opened his mouth to let Niall's tongue in. Louis wrapped one arm around Niall's waist and tangled his other hand in Niall's hair, bringing him as close as possible.

Niall moaned softly into Louis' mouth as his hands went to Louis' waist and gripped them tightly. Louis' hips jerked against Niall's involuntarily, causing both of them to break apart and moan. Their eyes met as they breathed heavily and smiled at each other.

"Been wanting to do that for a while," Niall muttered. Louis chuckled breathily, pulling Niall back and capturing his lips again. The next time they broke apart, Louis pressed his forehead against Niall's and chuckled.

"I would've suggested French ages ago if I'd known you'd thank me like this."

"And miss all those other meals?" Niall smiled. "Not in a million years."

Louis chuckled lightly, gently pushing him away but Niall wrapped his hands around Louis' and brought them up to his lips. He kissed Louis' fingertips tenderly, keeping eye contact before lowering them and pressing another kiss to Louis' lips.

"Two days without kissing you," he mumbled softly. Louis whimpered when Niall pulled away.

"Monday can't come soon enough," Louis replied.

"Louis, seriously!" Louis blinked again and gave Harry a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, mate. You were saying?"

*

By the time Louis went to bed Sunday night, much to Harry's protests insisting they _still_ hadn't spent enough time together, he couldn't fall asleep. All he wanted to do was go to sleep so he could wake up and it would be Monday. Never before in his life had he so looked forward to a Monday morning, but it meant that he'd be that much closer to Monday night and seeing Niall.

Louis rolled over and snatched his phone off the bedside table, wincing slightly when the screen lit up. He smiled as he started scrolling through all the texts that Niall had sent him over the last two days.

He'd told Niall that he had a full day of meetings on Saturday and wouldn't be available, but Niall had just brushed it off with a smile. Louis hadn't really thought anything of it, but Saturday morning he woke up to the sound of his phone buzzing with a text instead of hearing his alarm.

_Good morning :)_

Louis couldn't help but chuckle as he rubbed his eyes, sending a quick reply before he got up and started to get ready.

_You're up early, Nialler._

Louis didn't check his phone again until he'd had a quick shower and was picking out a suit to wear. There was a text from Niall waiting for him, and Louis had a feeling that there were going to be many more throughout the day.

_Couldn't sleep. Miss you._

Biting his lip to keep a chuckle from escaping and risk waking Harry up, Louis sent a reply before he got dressed, slipping his phone into his pocket as he headed to the kitchen.

_Go back to sleep and dream of me ;)_

He barely got two steps into the kitchen before his phone buzzed, and Louis did his best to ignore it as he started making some tea. He couldn't hold out for very long, as soon as the kettle was on the stove he pulled his phone out to read what Niall had said.

_I'd rather have the real thing ;)_

_Cheeky! You're going to distract me all day, aren't you?_

"Lou?" He looked up from his phone to see a bleary-eyed Harry shuffling towards him, and that's when he realized the kettle was whistling loudly next to him. He tossed his phone on the counter and quickly pulled the kettle from the burner and frowned at Harry.

"Sorry, mate, didn't mean to wake you." Harry glanced at Louis' phone when it started buzzing again, and then looked back at Louis.

"Who's texting you so early?"

"Nobody," Louis answered. "It's just a calendar reminder."

Harry stared at him for a minute, then seemed to believe his story enough to turn around and shuffle back towards his room. Louis sighed heavily as he poured some water into his cup, glancing at Niall's text across his screen.

_Gonna try! Might want to put your phone on silent :)_

Louis immediately took that advice and slipped his phone back into his pocket. If he was going to be of any actual use today, he had to put all thoughts of Niall out of his mind. He hoped it wouldn't be as hard as he was worried it would be.

Louis didn't get a chance to check his messages again until around lunchtime, and to his delight there were several from Niall. He scanned over them quickly, only having a couple minutes to himself between the end of his morning meetings and the beginning of his lunch meeting.

_Still can't sleep, so I made some tea. I bet you love tea._

_I wonder what you're up to. Probably sitting with a bunch of old farts with big moustaches or thick glasses._

_You'd look good with a moustache, I think._

_Now I can't stop thinking about what you'd look like with facial hair oh god._

_Never kissed a bloke with a moustache. You should probably grow one so you can be the first :)_

Louis was grinning, though his hand was clamped over his mouth to hide it from the other people in the room. He looked around quickly, seeing everyone was still milling about without much purpose so he still had a bit of time to himself.

 _You are ridiculous_ , he texted quickly. _I'd look silly with a moustache_.

Not even thirty seconds later, Niall texted back. _You never know. I think it'd be sexy ;)_

Louis willed himself not to start blushing, but there was nothing he could do about the grin on his face.

_I'll think about it ;)_

A voice called his name and Louis quickly pocketed his phone. He tried, but Louis was unable to really concentrate on anything for the rest of the afternoon. Despite the sound being off, he could feel his phone burning a hole in his pocket and he was sure that Niall had been sending him text after text.

Louis finally got a bit more time to himself in the car on the way to dinner, and he checked his phone again. There were several more texts from Niall, but the one that caught his eye first was a picture of his lunch with the caption _not the same without you here to feed me!_

The rest were little and silly things about his day, that usually ended with smiley faces. Louis started grinning again as he scrolled through them, wondering if Niall knew how sublimely happy they were making him.

His fingers froze as a new text came through, another picture. This time it was of Niall's face, with his lips pursed at the camera and his eyes closed. The caption read _miss your lips_ with a kiss emoticon. Louis let out a deep breath, clutching his phone tightly as he fought the urge to tell the driver to change course.

Louis quickly took a picture of himself, one of his hands pressed against his cheek where it had turned red and a half-smile across his lips. He sent it with the caption _you're making me blush!_

_That's the idea ;)_

Louis laughed softly, and then another text came through.

_You should wear suits more often. Damn._

_I'll keep that in mind ;)_

Still unable to fall asleep, Louis decided he would send Niall a text. He figured that he'd probably be asleep by now, given that it was after midnight. He stared at the picture Niall had sent him for a few minutes before deciding what he was going to write.

_Can't sleep. Miss you._

*

When his alarm went off the following morning, Louis cursed loudly. He'd only fallen asleep a few hours before, and he was in no mood to be woken up this early. The only good thing about being awake was the text that was waiting for him.

_Only a few hours left :)_

Louis smiled widely, almost letting out a giggle as he rolled onto his back. As he glanced at his phone in his hand, he decided that he had no interest in going to the office today. It's not like he would be able to concentrate on anything anyway, so he might as well work from home.

He sent a quick text to his secretary letting her know to cancel any meetings he may have, and then he switched back to Niall's last text. There were a number of things in Louis' head that he wanted to say to Niall, but he was having trouble picking just one.

_Up for something a little different tonight?_

Louis didn't have to wait long for Niall's reply, though to him it felt like ages.

_You mean all the meals we've been having were normal?_

He chuckled lightly, rolling his eyes at Niall's cheekiness.

_Shut up, you loved them._

_That I did :) What's the plan, then?_

Louis took a deep breath, chewing his bottom lip nervously as he typed out his reply and hoping that Niall wouldn't say no. He couldn't think of a single reason why he would, but Louis had never really been that much of an optimist.

_Italian at mine?_

_Are you going to cook for me, Louis? :)_

_You'll see ;) Be here around 5:30?_

_I'll be there with bells on ;)_

Louis tossed his phone back onto his bedside table before turning and pressing his grin into his pillow. He closed his eyes with the intent on going back to sleep for a few hours, hoping to dream of Niall.

In reality, Louis only got about another hour of sleep before Harry came bounding into his room and jumped on his bed. Louis tried to ignore him by pulling his pillow over his head, but Harry was not so easily ignored.

"Not going to work today?" he asked. "S'not like you."

"Working from home," Louis mumbled into the mattress, his head still underneath his pillow. "Sod off."

"Sleeping when you should be working. I ought to report you to your boss." Louis lifted his head, the pillow falling back down onto the mattress when he turned to look at Harry. "Oh wait, that's me, innit?"

"Can I help you with something?" Louis asked, his tone sounding more annoyed than he really was.

"Well, if you're not going into work, this means that you can spend more time with me!" Harry grinned and Louis rolled his eyes.

"Oh, goody. Another 12 hours of hearing about Liam's dreamy eyes and sumptuous arse."

"S'not my fault Liam's so fucking fit," Harry replied. Louis rolled his eyes again and dropped his head back down onto his pillow. Harry collapsed onto the pillow next to him, rolling over so they were face to face.

"Have you actually had a proper date yet?" Louis asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"No," Harry answered sheepishly. "Thinking about asking tonight."

"You should," Louis replied immediately. This was a perfect time as any to ensure that Harry would _not_ be in the flat this evening when Niall showed up. Though when Harry raised an eyebrow, Louis quickly recovered. "I mean, you talk about it enough, you should just do it already, yeah?"

"Yeah." Harry sighed deeply. "Yeah, I should. Reckon he'd say yes?"

"Don't see why not."

"But what if he does?" Louis sighed.

"Then you've made an ass of yourself. Par for the course, really." Harry leaned over to smack Louis' head, which he didn't even try to defend himself from.

"Twat."

"Love you too, Haz."

"What about you?" Harry asked. "You got more mystery dinner plans tonight?"

"Maybe," Louis replied, hoping his cheeks weren't turning pink.

"When do I get to meet this mystery bloke? Or at least learn his name?"

"I'll tell you his name when you shag Liam." Harry groaned.

"That could be months from now!" Louis raised an eyebrow. "What? I don't wanna fuck it up."

"That's new for you." Harry smacked him again, and this time Louis retaliated. Their little slap war ended with Louis pinning Harry against the bed with one arm behind his back, smiling triumphantly when he cried mercy.

"Twat," Harry repeated as he rubbed his shoulder once Louis had let go. "That hurt."

"S'what you get for smacking me."

"You deserved it. Being all secretive." Harry chuckled. "It's absurd."

"Is not," Louis protested. "Just don't wanna jinx it, yeah?"

"Yeah, alright." Harry sighed. "Wanna get breakfast?"

"Sure," Louis replied. Harry rolled off the bed and headed for the door. "Hey, Haz?"

"Yeah?" He turned back around, and Louis opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. He thought about asking Harry about cooking, since Harry was far better in the kitchen than he ever would be, but then thought better of it because he knew if he let it slip that he was _cooking_ for his mystery bloke, he'd never hear the end of it.

"Nevermind. Be out in a minute."

Harry and Louis went to a small café around the corner from their flat with Pongo and Perdita in tow. Louis had to admit that it was nice to spend some more quality time with Harry, especially since he wasn't blathering on about Liam the whole time.

They took a short walk after, passing by several shops before Harry paused in front of a market.

"Just going to pop in for a moment," he said as he handed Pongo's leash to Louis.

"Oh, mind grabbing a few things?" Louis asked, causing Harry to pause.

"Like?"

"Uhh, pasta?" Louis thought for a moment. "Have we got sauce? And err, meatballs or summat."

"Lou, are you planning a dinner?" Harry asked, an incredulous smile forming on his face as Louis looked down at the two dogs sitting at his feet.

"Sod off," he mumbled. "Just pick 'em up, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Harry laughed. "Back in ten."

Not long after Harry disappeared into the market, Louis' phone buzzed in his pocket. After a few minutes of trying to keep a hold of both leashes and fish his phone out, Louis was able to read the text.

_Today is draggingggg :(_

_What happened to only a few hours? ;)_

_Too many hours. Not enough you._

_You certainly know how to make a boy blush, Nialler._

_Show me? :)_

Louis chuckled, his eyes flickering to the market window where he could vaguely see Harry making his way to the queue. Once again juggling the leashes, Louis adjusted the beanie on his head before snapping a quick picture to send to Niall.

_Do you ever not look so damn good? ;)_

Louis chuckled again, quickly pocketing his phone when Harry emerged from the market with a bag in his arms.

"Miss me?" Harry asked with a cheeky smile. "Your sodding meatballs took forever."

"Much obliged," Louis answered as he passed Pongo's leash back to Harry.

Once they made it back to the flat, the pair lounged on the couch watching a movie while the pups laid on the floor. Every so often, Louis' phone would buzz and after the first few times Harry raised an eyebrow, Louis stopped checking.

"Don't ignore him on my account," Harry remarked with a smirk.

"Knowing you, you'll steal it from me to find out who it is," Louis replied, brandishing his phone just out of Harry's reach.

"Well now that you've tempted me…" Harry lunged for it but Louis managed to keep him from it.

"Get off," Louis said through a laugh as he pushed Harry back to his side of the couch.

"Dunno why you won't just tell me," he huffed as he settled back against the cushions, his arm dropping off the side to nuzzle against Perdita's fur.

"You know me," Louis replied softly. "I don't like making a big deal of things."

"Yeah, I know." Harry sighed. "Seems pretty serious, if you're making _meatballs_ for him."

"Am not," Louis retorted. "Just thought maybe I should learn to make something for myself," he added pitifully. "Can't rely on you for meals all the time."

"Sure you can," Harry replied. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know," Louis said with a soft smile. As Harry turned his attention back to the film, Louis considered telling him about Niall. But there was still a nagging voice in the back of his head saying not to, and he'd gotten too used to listening to that voice over the years to stop now. He let out a breath, pushing the thought to the back of his mind as he too went back to watching the film, even though he couldn't even remember what it was.

*

Harry ended up leaving the flat around 4:30 with the dogs, which meant that Louis had an hour to figure out how he was going to make dinner by himself. He'd never actually made a meal without Harry's help, meaning he usually hung around the kitchen offering tips he thought were good ideas but Harry usually just rolled his eyes and ignored him.

Somehow, the kitchen felt enormous without Harry around. And Louis had never felt so lost as he did when he started rummaging around for proper pots and pans, realizing that he had little to no idea what he was doing.

Knowing he couldn't call Harry, Louis turned to Google and managed to get on the right track. He hadn't even realized how much time had passed until he heard knocking at the door, and noticed that it was already 5:30.

"Shit!" He quickly turned down the lit burners so nothing caught on fire in his absence before he scrambled out of the kitchen and towards the door.

Every nervous feeling that Louis had immediately melted away when he saw Niall on the other side of the door, smiling widely back at him.

"Hope you don't mind," he said, pulling a bottle of wine out from behind his back, "I thought this might be good with Italian."

It took every ounce of strength in Louis' body not to forget all about dinner and pull Niall into his bedroom and never let him leave.

"Smells fantastic, can I come in?" Niall chuckled and Louis remembered himself, stepping back to let him pass by. He took the bottle of wine from Niall's outstretched hand and showed him where he could hang his coat before leading him back towards the kitchen.

"This is a really nice choice, Niall." Louis couldn't help but be a little surprised, he hadn't taken Niall to be a wine connoisseur. Niall chuckled softly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I had a little help from the bloke at the shop," he admitted. Louis laughed in response, putting the bottle on the counter before he stepped forward to kiss Niall on the cheek. Niall slipped his arm around Louis' waist to keep him from going anywhere, tilting his head to kiss Louis' lips.

Louis raked his hands through Niall's hair, groaning softly when he felt Niall's grip tighten around his waist. Louis pulled back slightly, trailing kisses down Niall's jaw and lightly sucking at the skin of his neck. Niall let out a soft moan followed by a chuckle.

"Y'know," he said breathily, "as much as I want this, whatever you made smells really good…and I'm starving."

"Really?" Louis asked, his mouth still hovering over the mark he'd made on Niall's neck. Niall nodded, swallowing harshly as he looked at Louis.

"Pick this up after dinner?" he asked. Louis chuckled lightly and pecked a quick kiss on Niall's lips before he nodded.

Louis went to pull himself out of Niall's grip so he could finish making dinner, but Niall wasn't quite ready to let him go just yet. Chuckling softly, Louis turned back around and shook his head with a fond look at Niall's pouting face.

"If you want me to feed you, you have to let me go."

"But I don't wanna let you go," Niall replied through his pout, though he released his grip. Louis slipped his hand into Niall's, squeezing it tightly once before letting it go so he could freely move around the kitchen. Niall preoccupied himself with opening the wine, though he took every opportunity to touch Louis when he came close enough.

Eventually, the pair were sitting at the kitchen island with large bowls full of spaghetti and meatballs in front of them. Louis chewed his bottom lip nervously as Niall tasted it for the first time, mildly terrified that he was going to hate it.

"It's good, Lou," Niall said through a mouthful of spaghetti. Louis sighed in relief, but still rolled his eyes.

"Only good?"

"Fantastic, smashing, I've never had better!" Niall exclaimed after he'd swallowed his bite. He grinned widely as Louis began to eat as well. "Besides, it's next to impossible to muck up spaghetti and meatballs."

"Shut up." Louis turned away, smiling down at his bowl instead of at Niall.

No meal with the two of them would've been complete without one feeding the other, especially since Louis had already offered. Niall reminded him of this, eagerly scooting his stool closer to Louis' and opening his mouth expectantly.

Louis obliged, twirling the spaghetti around his fork and trying not to dribble sauce everywhere when he offered it to Niall. Despite Louis' best efforts, not all of the spaghetti made it into Niall's mouth the first time and he watched as the blonde pursed his lips to suck every last bit of pasta into his mouth.

This, of course, left a trail of sauce down his chin and Louis couldn't keep his eyes off it. He leaned forward, licking the red away from Niall's pale skin in an upward motion. He also couldn't help running his tongue along Niall's bottom lip and catching it between his teeth, tugging it lightly before he kissed him.

Niall moaned into Louis' mouth before he felt Louis pull back, much to his dismay.

"You're so messy, Nialler." Louis smirked and gave him a cheeky look as he ran his thumb along Niall's chin. "Can't take you anywhere."

"S'all your fault," Niall replied with a voice he didn't quite recognize. He hadn't expected himself to sound quite so wrecked already, but Louis was doing one hell of a job of leaving him wanting more.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Louis said as he turned back to his own bowl and continued eating. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Niall shake his head and shift on his stool. Louis' eyes darted down to Niall's lap, the sight of the bulge in his jeans sending sparks down his spine. He too had to shift slightly, his jeans suddenly feeling uncomfortably tight.

They continued eating silently, both smiling as they stole glances at each other. Niall rested his hand on Louis' thigh but paid no attention to the look he received. When he realized Niall wasn't going to look at him, Louis moved slowly so that his legs spread further and Niall's hand slid across his thigh and closer to his groin.

Still not giving Louis any other attention, Niall dragged his fingers up Louis' leg and pressed hard against his inner thigh. Louis couldn't help but jerk at the feeling, and Niall let out a soft chuckle as he put his fork down into his empty bowl.

"I'll do the dishes, yeah?" he said casually, squeezing Louis' thigh once more before slipping off his stool and going around the island towards the sink.

Louis grunted, unable to form a coherent sentence as he struggled to keep his hands from shaking. He finished the last few bites of his dinner as quickly as he could, draining the wine from his glass before he stood up to bring his bowl to Niall.

As he set the bowl down in the sink, Louis put his lips to Niall's ear and whispered, "I'll be in the living room when you're done."

Niall shivered when Louis brushed past, his hand lingering on the curve of Niall's arse long enough that Niall found himself pushing back against it. Louis chuckled softly as he grabbed the wine and their empty glasses, heading into the living room.

Louis sat down on the couch, pouring out the rest of the bottle of wine into his and Niall's glasses. He may have poured himself half a glass and downed it before emptying the bottle, but no one was around to see him do it. He listened to Niall puttering around the kitchen, muttering softly to himself and it made Louis smile.

He stretched out on the couch, taking deep breaths when his mind wandered to what may happen when Niall came out of the kitchen. When he finally did, he wandered around the back of the couch, running his hands along the edge before sitting at the opposite end from Louis.

"Trying to get me drunk?" he asked with a glint in his eye as he picked up his wine glass.

"Is it working?" Louis replied with a grin. Niall shrugged his shoulders as he brought the rim to his lips and took a large sip.

"S'not bad."

"Actually," Louis said as he swirled his own wine around in the glass. "It's a very nice wine, bit of a shame to be drinking it so fast."

"Doesn't bother me," Niall replied as he took another large sip, tipping his head back as he finished the whole glass. Louis raised an eyebrow as Niall put the glass back on the table and looked at him expectantly.

"Alright, then." Louis shrugged and finished the rest of his glass, setting it back on the table afterwards.

Almost instantly, Niall climbed on top of Louis and crashed their mouths together, finally fed up with the lack of contact. At first, it was chaos with fumbling hands and gnashing teeth, but once Niall pressed his body flush against Louis', everything seemed to fall into place.

Louis' hands found their way into Niall's hair again as Niall's slipped under Louis' shirt and left a trail of goosebumps in its wake. Louis shivered under his touch and moaned softly when Niall kissed his way down his neck, pausing just above his shoulder to leave a mark.

Niall leaned to one side, his mouth still attached to Louis' neck as he pressed his back against the back of the couch so he could slip his hand into Louis' jeans. Louis gasped, rocking his hips up into Niall's hand as it slid into his pants.

Louis pulled Niall's head back, bringing their lips together again before he moved his hand down to Niall's jeans. Niall moaned into Louis' mouth once he wrapped his hand around Niall's cock and started working him in the same rhythm Niall was using on him.

"Shit, Lou-" Niall pulled back to moan and he pressed his head against Louis' neck as Louis panted hotly into his ear.

"Ahh-" Louis moaned back. "Feels so good, Ni…"

Niall lifted his head and tipped it back in another moan, Louis taking the chance to attach his lips to Niall's neck and make his own mark. Niall grunted, trying to move his hand faster on Louis despite the tight fabric of his jeans.

"God that _mouth_ ," he groaned through gritted teeth. "Want it, uhh- want you to suck me off."

"I'd love to suck you off," Louis purred in Niall's ear as he matched Niall's speed with his own hand. " _God_ , I'd love that."

Niall moaned again, suddenly unable to say anything so he latched his mouth to Louis' neck again and panted against the hot skin.

"Want you to fuck me too," Louis continued, his voice breathy and his words coming out in stutters. "Just need to feel you."

"God, yes- _yes_ -" Niall's hips jerked and he cried out against Louis' neck. "I want to come, Lou, _god_ I want to come."

"Me too," Louis whimpered, bucking his hips into Niall's hand.

The pair were so enthralled with each other that they didn't hear the front door open. They did, however, hear it shut.

No matter how close they both were – and _oh,_ were they – they both froze immediately. Louis didn't have to guess to know who had just walked in, but as if the universe had to prove a point he heard Harry's amused voice.

"Well, _this_ is an interesting development."

They both scrambled to pull their hands away from each other, trying to stand up quickly even though Niall's legs obviously objected. He stumbled, knocking the empty wine bottle over and wincing at the noise.

"I'm- I'm gonna- yeah." Louis winced at Niall's stammer, desperately wanting to look at him but he currently couldn't look at anything but the floor. "I'm gonna go."

"Yeah, uh-" Louis' mind was reeling, and he went into instant cover-up mode and offered his hand for Niall to shake. The same hand that had just been down Niall's jeans. "Good meeting. I'll, uh, have my assistant, uh- y'know…"

"Right, yeah." Niall cleared his throat, and now both of them were pointedly staring at the floor. "Sounds good. G'night."

Louis watched out of the corner of his eye as Niall strode towards the door, saying Harry and Liam's names through gritted teeth as he quickly grabbed his coat before he ran out. If Louis hadn't been in a murdering mood, he certainly was when Harry started clapping.

"Well done, mate."

 _Fucking bastard_ , Louis thought to himself. But instead of saying anything and risk Liam needing to call the cops on him for murdering Harry, he just cleared his throat and stormed out of the room.

He threw himself onto his bed, hating Harry with every fiber of his being but also hating himself for not stopping Niall from running out. He heard Harry and Liam talking but couldn't quite understand what was being said, but then there was the unmistakable sound of the front door opening and closing.

He took some comfort in the fact that Harry was apparently having the same shit luck, because he appeared in his room two minutes later with Pongo and Perdita in tow.

"Louis?" Harry said as he laid down on the bed next to him. Louis let out a soft grunt, too frustrated to say anything else. "You're a twat."

Next thing both of them knew, Louis had Harry in a headlock. He only held him for a few minutes and apologized afterwards, though in his mind Louis wasn't sorry at all. At least, not about causing Harry physical pain. The only thing he felt sorry about was how he'd just handled that whole situation, and he hoped he'd get a chance to make it up to Niall.

*

From the moment Louis woke up the next morning, all he wanted to do was talk to Niall. Unfortunately, he absolutely _had_ to go into the office that day since he'd pretty much neglected every single one of his duties the day before. He managed to send a quick text before he left the flat, though it didn't say half the things he wanted it to.

_I'm so sorry about last night. Can I make it up to you?_

When he arrived at the office, Louis was immediately ambushed by his secretary who had nearly a dozen messages for him as well as a full day of meetings with a number of people that Louis had no interest in talking to whatsoever. He desperately wanted to check his phone to see if Niall had replied, but every time he reached for it his attention was drawn away.

Finally, around two o'clock, he managed to shut himself in his office for a moment's peace. He shuffled over to his desk and slumped down in his chair, his head falling onto the mountain of paperwork that had accumulated in the last day. His spirits lifted slightly when he realized he finally had time to check his phone, but they plummeted even further when there was no text waiting for him.

Louis shut his eyes tightly, stifling a whimper even though there was nobody around to hear it anyway. He briefly debated sending another text, but Niall had already had around seven hours to respond to the first. It seemed a bit hopeless that he'd answer a second if Louis were to send it.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Louis grumbled as he thumped his head against the desk. He wasn't about to give up this easy – he couldn't let himself.

Instead of sending another text, he dialed Niall's number and waited. The line rang and rang, and Louis only ended the call when Niall's voicemail picked up. He sighed deeply before reaching for his office phone and pausing before he dialed the number of the shelter.

If Niall wasn't going to answer a call from Louis' phone, then he certainly wouldn't pick up if he saw Louis' office number. Knowing this, Louis opted to dial the main number in the hopes that Zayn would answer and _not_ know what happened.

Louis almost couldn't speak when Zayn picked up, finding his voice right before Zayn was about to hang up on him.

"Can I please speak to Niall?" Louis' voice sounded timid and weak, and Zayn almost didn't recognize it.

"Louis?" He let out a soft whine in response, and Zayn sighed. "Pathetic, the lot of you," he grumbled.

"Is he there or not, Zayn?" His voice was a bit stronger now, though his nerves were still shaky as ever.

"Yeah, he's here. But don't blame me if he hangs up on you, yeah?" The line went silent for a moment before Niall's voice came through.

"This is Niall." Louis winced at the sound of his voice, it was filled with fake cheer and it sounded so foreign coming from Niall that Louis hated himself even more.

"Hey, Ni." Niall let out a sharp breath and Louis quickly added "please don't hang up."

"Alright," Niall replied with a heavy sigh. He didn't say anything more, and Louis fought to keep all his thoughts from spilling out of his mouth.

"Why didn't you answer?" he finally asked, his voice having lost the strength he'd gained in the last few minutes.

"Beca-" Niall paused to sigh again, "because I didn't want to talk, Lou."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, _so_ sorry." Louis squeezed his eyes shut again, this time to hold back tears. The last thing he wanted to do was break down in his office and have Niall hang up on him.

"Don't." Niall sighed. "Just don't. You don't even know what you're apologizing for."

"But I do," Louis replied quickly. "I shouldn't have let you leave last night, I should've-"

"Should've what?" Niall interrupted. "Why didn't you stop me? Why'd you give that rubbish excuse, why-" He stopped himself, and Louis swore he heard Niall stifle a sob.

"I don't know," Louis replied helplessly. "This is all new for me, and I'm scared. I don't know how to do this."

"Well, I can't wait around and hope you figure it out. And I certainly don't want to be with someone who can't even tell their best mate about me."

"I want to, believe me, Niall-" Louis begged, trying to ignore the tears that were streaming down his face. "I want to."

"Then why haven't you?"

"I…I don't know." Niall sighed heavily once more.

"Right." The line went silent, and for a moment Louis thought he'd hung up.

"Niall?" he said softly, his voice finally breaking. "Please don't hang up."

"I ought to," Niall replied in a similar tone.

"Please," Louis repeated. "Don't."

Niall sighed again, and Louis briefly thought to himself that if they made it through this, if he ever heard Niall sigh like that again in a million years it'd still be too soon.

"How are you ever going to make this up to me?" Niall asked. Despite everything, Louis let out a laugh.

"I don't know," he said as he laughed again, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "But I'm going to damn well try."

"You'd better believe it," Niall replied, his voice starting to sound more like the Niall Louis had come to know over the last week. The Niall that he wanted more than anyone in the world at that moment.

"Can I take you out tonight?" Louis asked, gathering courage by the second. "A proper date. Anywhere you want to go."

"Anywhere?" Louis smiled at the sound of hope that was in Niall's voice.

"Anywhere."

*

Niall had agreed to meet with Louis at the pub down the street from his apartment, somewhere Niall had often ended up most nights before he'd met Louis. He hoped that this meant Niall wasn't as upset as he'd feared, but even after their phone call ended on somewhat good terms Louis was still nervous.

He honestly didn't know why he was so afraid of telling Harry about him and Niall. Maybe it was because this was the first real relationship he'd ever been in and that simple fact scared Louis to no end. But the more he thought about it, the less he figured out.

How could he call what he had with Niall a relationship when he couldn't even define what it was out loud? He wanted to, so badly, but something was holding him back. All he could do was hope that Niall would be able to help him figure it out before he lost everything.

Louis didn't see Niall when he first came into the pub, it was slightly more crowded than Louis had expected. He walked further in and glanced around, finally spotting him in the corner at the far end of the bar, one hand tucked under his chin while the other was tracing the rim of the glass in front of him. There was a plate of chips next to the glass, though they looked like they'd gone untouched.

Niall didn't see him come in, and Louis took that as an opportunity to study him for a minute before he went over. He looked a bit sad, and Louis knew it was his doing. He never wanted to make Niall sad, not that he had ever even thought that it was possible. He hated himself for dimming Niall's sunny personality, and he needed to make it right.

Louis blended into the crowd, working his way along the bar until he was able to slide into the seat next to Niall. He brushed his fingers across Niall's shoulders as he sat down, offering him a small smile. Niall stiffened slightly, and tried to return a smile but it didn't come as easily as it normally did.

"Wasn't sure you'd come 'round." Louis frowned slightly.

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked, tentatively taking Niall's hand out from under his chin and lacing their fingers together. Niall gently pulled his hand away, staring at the glass before him so he didn't see how Louis' face fell.

"I don't understand you, Lou."

"What-" Louis was interrupted by the bartender coming by and asking what he wanted. He froze for a minute before he gestured to Niall's glass and she turned around, seeming to understand what he'd meant.

Niall didn't speak again until she came back with a glass for Louis, setting it down in front of him and offering Niall a sympathetic smile before she walked away.

"I don't understand you," he repeated, still staring at his glass. "You'll take me out to dinner, you'll flirt and hold my hand, but you won't tell your best friend."

Louis hung his head for a moment, before a thought entered his mind that hadn't ever occurred to him until that second.

"Did you tell Liam?" Niall stiffened, taking a small sip of his drink before he replied.

"It's not the same, Louis."

"How is it different?" Niall turned his head, looking directly at Louis before he spoke.

"If you asked, I'd call Liam right now and tell him everything. If I asked, would you call Harry?"

"It's not that simple," Louis mumbled softly. Niall laughed.

"It should be." He made a move to get up, but Louis grabbed his arm.

"Please, sit down," he asked quietly, trying to prevent Niall from making a scene. Niall thought for a moment, studying Louis' face before he slowly sank back down onto his stool.

Somehow, every part of Louis' mind that had been muddled suddenly became clear. He knew what he wanted to say to Niall, he just had to make sure that Niall stuck around long enough to hear it.

"This is the first relationship I've ever been in," he began softly, choosing to ignore Niall's eyeroll. "I don't know if relationship is the right term, but it's all I've got."

Louis took a deep breath, his hand gripping the edge of the bar as he prepared himself to discuss something he had barely thought of in a very long time.

"My mum left my dad when I was barely four years old. After that, I was his whole world…until one day I wasn't enough anymore." Louis inhaled sharply, and Niall's face immediately softened but he made no moves to comfort him.

"That's when Harry's parents took me in. They did more for me than I could ever imagine, and I can never repay them. That's why…when they passed…I started taking care of Harry. I owe it to them to make sure that he's all right."

"I don't-" Niall sighed softly. "I don't understand."

"It's just...I never learned how to let anyone else in. I became my father without even meaning to, and I made Harry my world. And now you're here…and I don't know how to connect the two. I want to, you have to believe me, but I just don't know how."

Niall stayed silent for a few minutes after Louis stopped speaking. While he waited for Niall to say something, Louis shakily took a sip from his glass. Halfway through his sip, Niall's hand wrapped around his own. Louis put his glass back down onto the bar and turned to look at him.

Niall was looking right back at him, but not in the same way he had been before. His eyes were glassy but bright as ever, and Louis felt the knot in his chest start to loosen as Niall brought his other hand up to his cheek.

Louis' eyes slowly closed as Niall leaned forward and kissed him with such care that he nearly started to cry. Louis had never felt this way in anyone's arms before, and the fact that it was Niall made him feel safer than ever.

Niall pulled back just enough so he could look into Louis' eyes again as he spoke.

"I wish you'd told me before."

"Didn't know how," Louis replied quietly. Niall pressed another kiss to his lips and sighed.

"We'll figure this out," he said as he kept giving Louis short, sweet kisses. "We'll make it work."

"Thank you," Louis said against Niall's lips, smiling as he pulled back. He reached a hand behind Niall and grabbed one of the forgotten chips, bringing it to his mouth as Niall watched with an amused look.

"Hungry?" he asked, the playful look that Louis admired so much returning to his eyes.

"Famished." Niall smiled and pushed the plate towards Louis, grabbing a few and holding one out for Louis to eat. He smiled again as he ate the chip from Niall's hand, Niall watching him with an amused look on his face.

"Eat up, then. You've got quite a bit of making up to do."

Louis chuckled. "I'll need my strength tonight, yeah?"

"You could say that," Niall said with a smirk.

*

Louis couldn't understand how one part of his life could come together so well when the other seemed to fall apart almost instantly. Though for nearly a full day, he thought that maybe everything was finally going to be okay.

The day after he'd patched things up with Niall – having spent all night at Niall's flat making it up to him in a number of ways that made him blush whenever he remembered them – he went straight to the office in the morning. Strangely, he didn't hear from Harry all morning though with the multitude of texts that he and Niall were sending back and forth he didn't really have a chance to think about it.

He'd made plans to go out to dinner with Niall again – though he had a sneaking suspicion that dinner would be cut short in favor of spending time at Niall's flat instead. Louis insisted that he had to go home first, even if only to just change his clothes.

When he arrived at his flat, Louis was surprised to see Pongo and Perdita curled up on the couch. He knew it was well into the time that Harry normally would've been out for a walk with Liam, but Harry was nowhere to be seen.

"Haz?" he called out, but the only response he got was soft whining from the pups on the couch. He walked towards his room, noticing that the door to Harry's was shut.

"Harry?" Louis knocked on the door somewhat quietly, trying the handle once and finding it was locked. "Harry, you in there?"

Still no answer came, and Louis sighed softly. He was used to this sort of behavior from Harry, even though it hadn't happened in over a year. Harry's tendency to fall in love so easily came with a price – he fell into other emotions just as hard.

Louis couldn't count the number of times that he'd waited outside of Harry's room for him to crawl out of bed and talk to him through the door. But this time, Louis had somewhere to be and normally Harry would've at least acknowledged him by now.

 _Maybe he was out late with Liam_ , Louis thought to himself. He smiled at the possibility that Harry had been up all night like he had and now he was just sleeping it off.

Louis turned and went into his room, quickly changing his clothes so he wouldn't be even later for his date with Niall. As he walked back towards the front door, he took one more look at Harry's door.

_That must be it._

Louis spent that night at Niall's as well, though he managed to squeeze in a trip back home in the early hours of the morning to get a shower before going to work. The door to Harry's room was still closed, and Pongo and Perdita were curled up in Louis' bed this time instead of the couch.

"Cheeky pups," he mumbled as he ruffled their fur.

Louis didn't see Harry for another day and a half. When he finally did see him, Harry was a shell of the boy Louis knew. It broke his heart to see him this way, and he felt responsible for letting it get this bad.

Nobody could really blame Louis for going off on Liam, even if he may have gone a little too far. Louis was angry at Liam for hurting Harry, but he was angrier with himself for not seeing it before. For brushing off the fact that Harry had been distant with him for the first time ever in favor of his own happiness.

Even if that wasn't entirely true, Louis still felt guilty about it.

"It's all my fault," he groaned as he slumped down in a chair in Niall's office. Niall frowned, standing up from his desk and coming around to wrap his arms around Louis, despite the chair getting in the way.

"It is not," Niall protested.

"It's _your_ fault, for distracting me." Louis didn't really mean it, and when he chuckled lightly Niall realized this and stopped frowning.

"I could distract you now," Niall said as he let go of Louis, only to settle between his legs a moment later. Louis smiled down at him, leaning forward to kiss him.

"Thought your services were professional during business hours," he said with a smirk. Niall glanced at the clock on the wall briefly before turning back to Louis.

"S'after five." He grinned as he slid his hands up Louis' thighs, bringing them to his belt and unbuckling it while Louis looked down at him.

"Niall…" he said softly, his eyes flickering towards the door behind Niall. It was shut, thankfully, but it wasn't locked. Niall followed his look, rolling his eyes briefly as he stood up.

"I'll lock the door, you take your pants off."

"Yessir." Louis happily obliged, though he opted not to take them off all the way because he didn't fancy the idea of his naked bum on the cold metal chair.

Niall knelt down between Louis' legs a minute later, swatting Louis' hands away from where he'd been stroking himself. Niall took over, dipping his head down to lick the head of Louis' cock. Louis moaned softly, his head falling back as Niall pulled his hips forward.

Niall sank his mouth down onto Louis, earning another moan as he wrapped his hand around the base to stroke what his mouth couldn't take. Louis tangled his fingers in Niall's hair, pulling tightly when Niall's tongue ran along the vein of his cock.

"Shit, Ni-" Louis panted heavily and Niall hummed around him, pushing his head against Louis' hands as it bobbed up and down. If Louis had learned one thing in the last few days, it was that Niall _really_ liked having his hair pulled.

Louis tried to concentrate on not bucking his hips up into Niall's mouth, but with every second that passed he was finding it incredibly difficult to keep any coherent thought in his mind. Niall slowly pulled off, working his hand fast enough to keep Louis writhing under his touch.

"C'mon, Lou." Niall's voice was low and hoarse, and it made Louis even harder. "I know you can be louder than that."

"Niall…" Louis moaned. Another fun fact he'd learned about Niall was that he was a bit of an exhibitionist, and had no sense of how loud was _too_ loud.

"C'mon," he repeated, swiping his tongue across the head of Louis' cock and smirking when Louis shuddered. He slowed his hand down, teasing his tongue along Louis' slit, listening to the sounds of Louis' soft whines.

"You're such a-" Louis took a shaky breath, "fucking _tease_."

"You know why," Niall murmured as he enveloped his mouth around Louis once again. Louis immediately moaned again, his breaths coming out in short bursts as he yanked on Niall's hair.

"Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ Niall!" Louis' voice raised in volume with each word, mainly because Niall sucked harder every time Louis spoke.

The fact that he didn't know if anyone was around to hear him no longer seemed to matter, because Louis was now shouting Niall's name as he started to come. He moaned loudly as Niall swallowed around him, keeping his mouth on Louis until he'd come down from the aftershocks of his orgasm.

Niall wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and smiled up at Louis, who could barely focus his eyes on Niall. He stood up and cupped Louis' face as he pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Now you're relaxed, yeah?"

"Yeah," Louis replied with a breathy chuckle.

"Good." Niall smiled. "Now go home and be there for Harry."

Louis smiled, pressing another kiss to Niall's lips before he tucked himself back in his pants and shakily stood up. He wrapped his arms around Niall tightly, peppering kisses along Niall's neck.

"I don't deserve you," he mumbled into Niall's ear. Niall chuckled in response.

"Don't be silly." He pulled back in Louis' arms, reaching his hand up to gently rub his thumb along Louis' jawline. "You'll find a way to make it up to me."

*

Louis spent every spare moment he had with Harry, despite the number of times that Harry would slam his bedroom door in Louis' face. It didn't matter, Louis would just sit on the other side and wait for Harry to reemerge. He always did.

In the week leading up to the big event at the shelter, Louis and Niall didn't see each other at all outside of meetings of a strictly business purpose. That isn't to say that they didn't talk at all, because they did.

Every minute Louis wasn't spending with Harry, he was texting Niall. Every night when Louis was finally able to get Harry to fall asleep, he'd quietly get up and shuffle to his own room to call Niall. Half the time Niall was already asleep when Louis called, but he never minded getting woken up.

Louis was worried about the event, partially because it was his job to worry about it, but mostly because he wasn't sure how Harry would react to seeing Liam for the first time in days. He tried not to bring it up, but when the day of rolled around he couldn't really avoid the topic anymore.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"Lou," Harry said with a deep sigh. "I'll be fine, yeah? I probably won't even talk to him."

"Exactly," Louis said with a bit of relief. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"So I can get out of going to this, then?" Harry grinned and Louis rolled his eyes.

"Fat chance. If I have to go, you have to go."

"Yeah, but you actually _want_ to go. Can't leave your boytoy all by himself."

Louis froze. Harry hadn't mentioned Niall's name in ages, and part of Louis had kind of hoped that he wouldn't. As he'd told Niall numerous times, he wasn't ashamed of him or what they were doing, he just still wasn't ready to merge his two worlds.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Louis mumbled, immediately changing the topic to what Harry was going to wear that evening. If there was anything that Harry could talk endlessly about, it was fashion. That usually was enough to give Louis a reprieve from any topic he didn't want to discuss. Apparently, Harry had finally wised up and it wasn't going to work this time.

"Why won't you admit you're seeing Niall?" Louis let out a deep sigh, fisting his hands in his hair before he was able to face Harry.

"I'm scared."

"Of what? Niall is possibly the least scary-"

"It's not Niall," Louis interrupted. "I'm scared of myself."

Harry gave him a weird look, which Louis expected. "What on earth do you mean?"

"It's just…" Louis sighed heavily again, starting to feel even more uncomfortable under Harry's gaze. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"M-Me? What?" Harry looked even more confused than before.

"I don't want to turn into my dad," he mumbled. Harry's face changed from confusion to empathy almost immediately, but he didn't say anything. He reached out to take Louis' hand, patiently waiting for him to continue.

"As stupid as this sounds, and as ridiculous as I feel for saying it, I'm responsible for you. I've been taking care of you for so long that I don't know anything else." Harry opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and kept quiet.

"I'm afraid of becoming so wrapped up in someone else that I won't know how to handle it when-" Louis paused, wincing at his own lack of hope, " _if_ it ends."

"You wouldn't do what he did, Lou," Harry said softly, squeezing Louis' hands tighter. "You're not your dad."

"But what if I-"

"You wouldn't," Harry repeated, and Louis stayed quiet. "I understand that you're scared, Lou, but you can't let that keep you from being happy. That's no way to live."

"Seemed to work out alright 'til now," Louis said with a hollow chuckle. "'Til Niall."

Harry smiled. "It's a bit weird that you think I'm your kid or summat."

"Well, you do have the tendency to call me Daddy."

"True." Harry laughed. "We're both mad." Louis chuckled lightly before he stood up and tugged on Harry's arm to get him to stand up as well.

"C'mon, we need to get ready."

"Gotta look good for your boytoy," Harry remarked with a smile. Louis' cheeks turned red and he looked at the floor.

"Shut up," he mumbled.

"Hey," Harry said as he tucked his hand under Louis' chin to pull his head back up. "Like I said, don't let anything keep you from being happy."

Louis sighed softly and nodded. "When I'm ready, you'll be the first to know."

"You're damn right I will be." Harry laughed. "I'd be gutted if you went to anyone else."

*

Louis was relieved when the event went off without a hitch, even though he was less than pleased when Harry went off with Liam. He'd already been chastised once by Niall for glaring daggers at Liam all night, but the last thing he wanted was either of them to cause a scene and undo all of their hard work.

"Babe, what're you doing?" Niall wrapped his hand around Louis' wrist, preventing him from following after Harry and Liam.

"I just- I don't- Stop looking at me like that, Niall."

"Like what?" Niall asked with a grin.

"Like I'm a mental patient or summat."

"Aww, you're not crazy, love." Niall tugged on Louis' wrist, bringing him over to a nearby table. "I know you're worried about Harry but like I told you, Liam's come 'round."

"Believe that when I see it," Louis muttered.

They sat by themselves at the table for a few minutes before Zayn came walking up, chuckling to himself the whole way. He sat down in the empty chair next to Niall, smirking at the pair of them but not saying anything.

"What's wrong with you?" Niall asked.

"Think you two have been ditched," Zayn replied.

"Di-" Louis groaned. "Did Harry leave with Liam?"

Zayn nodded. "They looked pretty attached at the hip. Or lips, rather."

"Well this is a good thing!" Niall said, clapping Zayn's shoulder. "Cause for celebration!"

"You have fun with that," Zayn remarked as he stood up. "If Liam gets to sneak out, then so do I. Night, lads."

Niall shook his head, waving his hand at Zayn's back before turning to Louis who was still looking rather annoyed.

"Hey," Niall said, cupping Louis' cheek. "This is a good thing."

"Liam better not fuck it up this time," Louis mumbled as he avoided Niall's eye.

"He won't. Liam's not the type to screw up once, let alone twice." Louis still looked a bit unconvinced, so Niall leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "wanna get out of here?"

"Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Horan?" Louis asked with a hint of a smirk.

"Trying, yeah. Is it working?" Niall's smile was infectious, and soon Louis was nodding and lacing his fingers with Niall's before he led the way out the back door.

"Where are we going?" Louis asked as Niall flagged down a taxi.

"Well, we could go to yours, but then we run the risk of walking in on something we probably don't want to see."

Louis snorted. "It'd serve them right, honestly."

"Aww, Lou." Niall kissed his cheek quickly as a taxi pulled up next to them. "You're so cute when you're mad."

"Shut up," Louis mumbled through a smile as he pushed Niall into the taxi, following a second later.

Niall gave the driver his address and pulled Louis flush against him, starting to press kisses against his neck. Louis chuckled lightly at the tickling feeling, his laughter quickly switching to soft moans when Niall started sucking on his skin.

One of Niall's hand kept Louis' head in place while the other was intent on riling Louis up as much as possible, raking his fingers over his thigh and pressing hard when he got close to Louis' groin.

The ride from the shelter to Niall's flat was about ten minutes, but it felt like utter agony to Louis when all he wanted was to be in Niall's bed. Niall unlatched his lips from Louis' neck long enough to pay the driver when they pulled up in front of his building, quickly ushering Louis inside as fast as he could.

Niall was a lot of things, as Louis had learned, and a tease was most certainly one of them. When they stepped through the door, Niall took his hands away from Louis' body and busied himself with taking off his coat and hanging it up properly.

Louis tried to wrap his arms around Niall and kiss him again, whining in desperation when Niall swatted his hands away with a laugh. Pouting, Louis strode into Niall's bedroom and curled up on his bed. Niall followed a minute or two later, loosening his tie as he leaned against the doorframe.

"You know I hate when you do this," Louis mumbled.

"Do what?"

"You know." Niall chuckled, pulling his tie off and tossing it on the floor before starting on his shirt buttons.

"Don't think I do." Louis huffed as he sat up on the bed and crossed his arms.

"You get me all worked up and then stop. I hate when you tease me."

"You're so cute when you're mad," Niall said with a smile as he crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Louis. "Besides, I know you like when I tease you."

"Do not," Louis replied through a pout. Niall smiled again, cupping Louis' cheek as he pressed their lips together. Louis sighed into the kiss and threaded his fingers through Niall's hair as Niall's hand fell back down between his legs.

"Do too," Niall mumbled against his lips as he gripped Louis through his trousers, causing Louis to pull back and gasp sharply.

"Fucking _tease_ ," he groaned, taking the initiative to climb onto Niall's lap and push him back onto the bed.

"Dunno if it's teasing-" Niall paused with a groan as Louis' lips found their way to his neck and started making marks of their own, "if I always end up fucking you."

"Less talking, more fucking," Louis grunted against his neck and Niall chuckled breathily before he flipped Louis onto his back and ripped his shirt open, ignoring Louis' mild protest about ruining his shirt.

"For fuck's sake, Niall," Louis grumbled as he pulled his shirt off. "Bloody barbarian."

Niall growled – literally, _growled_ – which sent Louis into a fit of giggles.

"Hey! No laughing at my barbarian-ness." Niall leaned down and sank his teeth into the tendon of Louis' neck, causing him to shudder violently.

" _F-Fuck,_ Niall," Louis moaned. Niall smirked against his skin, bringing his lips to Louis' ear.

"Watch it, or I'll tie you up again."

"Promise?" Louis smirked and Niall waggled his eyebrows.

"Definitely." Niall kissed Louis' lips. "Not right now, though. Bit busy trying to get your trousers off."

"You're one to talk," Louis replied. "You've still got all your kit on!"

"Well then help me!" Louis huffed loudly as he sat up, pretending it was an imposition to be expected to help Niall undress. He unbuttoned the rest of Niall's shirt before moving onto his belt, tugging his trousers down before looking up at Niall with a grin.

"There. Now can you get back to fucking me?"

"S'pose so." Niall smirked, tackling Louis to the bed again as he kicked his trousers off. He slid down Louis' body, trailing kisses down his stomach as his hands quickly pulled both his trousers and pants down in one swift motion.

Louis inhaled sharply when Niall's tongue ran along the underside of his cock, letting out a breathy groan when his mouth enveloped around the head. Niall pulled off a second later, looking up at Louis and motioning to the bedside table.

Slightly annoyed at the lack of contact, Louis rolled over and grabbed the bottle of lube sitting on the table. He went to roll onto his back again, but Niall stopped him.

"Stay like that, yeah?" he said in a low voice as Louis passed him the bottle. "On your stomach."

Louis whimpered softly when his cock pressed against the mattress, and he jerked his hips against it once before Niall slapped his arse. He yelped, trying to crane his neck to glare at Niall but he couldn't get the right angle.

"Niall," he whined, no longer caring about how desperate he sounded. Niall's hands slid up the backs of his thighs, sending shivers up his spine. Louis' breath caught in his throat as he felt Niall's breath somewhere he never expected.

"Wanna try something, love."

Louis opened his mouth to ask what, but every thought was wiped from his mind when he felt Niall's tongue hesitantly touch his hole. He let out a sharp breath when Niall did it again, and he groaned into the pillow beneath his head.

"Niall," he whined again, whimpering into his pillow as Niall continued to lick him out, and he only faintly heard the click of the lube bottle opening. He shuddered again when he felt both Niall's tongue and one of his fingers pressed against him, and again he was at a loss for words.

"D'you like that, Lou?" Niall's voice was lower than Louis had ever heard, and all he could do was moan in response. "Yeah, bet you do."

Louis let out another whimper as Niall added another finger, his tongue still teasing around them. He wasn't sure if he could handle Niall teasing him like this with his cock trapped underneath him, rubbing against the sheets every time Niall pushed his fingers deeper inside. He pushed his hips back against Niall's fingers, moaning from the delicious friction on his cock when Niall pressed him back against the bed.

"Wanna come, babe? Tell me."

" _Yes_ ," Louis begged helplessly, crying out again when Niall pushed another finger in and brushed against his prostate.

"Do it, then." Niall pressed his tongue against him again as he curled his fingers inside of him to press against his prostate. Louis started rutting his hips against the bed, fucking himself on Niall's fingers and tongue. It didn't take long for him to come with his cock still trapped between him and the bed.

"God, Niall-" he breathed out, his heart pounding as Niall pulled his fingers out and rolled him onto his back.

"Gonna fuck you now," he said as he pressed himself again Louis, dipping his head down to nip at his lips. "Think you can get hard for me again?"

"Y-Yeah," Louis stuttered as he felt the tip of Niall's cock against him, already feeling his own cock start to fatten up against his thigh. Niall started to push inside of him, but Louis gripped his arm tightly before he breathed out one word, "condom?"

"Not tonight, love." Niall dropped his head down and pressed his lips to Louis' ear. "This way, I can lick myself out of you when I'm done."

If Louis hadn't been hard before, he certainly was after hearing that.

" _Fuck yes,_ " he groaned through gritted teeth as he pulled Niall's lips to his own, his other hand wrapping around Niall's back to urge him to start going again.

Niall started out slow, pushing himself into Louis as deeply as he could before he'd pull out and do it again. Louis gasped every time he pulled out, and moaned filthily when he pushed back in.

"Faster, Niall, _please_ ," he said as he tried to push his hips against Niall's to speed him up. Niall chuckled in his ear, kissing his cheek before he propped himself up and started thrusting faster.

Niall wrapped his hand around Louis' cock and started stroking painfully slow when compared to how fast he was thrusting into him. Louis was a writhing mess beneath him, unable to string any words together as moan after moan fell from his lips.

"Love seeing you like this, Lou." Niall tipped his head back to moan loudly. "So fucking good," he grunted.

"Yes, yes, yes-" Louis moaned. "Oh _god_ , yes- Ni- Ni- fuck!"

"C'mon, babe. Want you to come again." Niall started stroking him faster, matching the speed of his hand to his thrusts. He wanted to see Louis come apart one more time before he let himself go.

"Just- just like that," Louis moaned loudly, gripping the sheets underneath him as he started to come over Niall's hand.

"Fuck, Louis, yeah, that's it-" Niall cut himself off with a moan as he came inside Louis, still stroking him until Louis swatted his hand away. Niall stilled a minute later, slowly pulling out as he gasped for breath.

Louis felt completely and utterly wrecked, almost positive that he wouldn't be able to move even if the flat caught on fire at that moment. His limbs felt impossibly heavy, and his whole body tingled with the aftershocks of his last orgasm.

He barely had enough energy to cry out softly when Niall pushed his legs up, and even less to pick his head up off the pillow to see what was going on. He didn't have to wonder for long, because Niall's tongue found its way to his hole again and Louis whimpered.

"Niall…" he mumbled, not understanding how he could feel so exhausted and yet still so fucking turned on. Niall didn't respond, he just kept licking and sucking hungrily as his fingers dug into Louis' thighs.

When Niall lifted his head to look up at Louis, both of them were half-hard again. He crawled up Louis' body and kissed him, enjoying the way Louis moaned as he licked his way around Niall's mouth.

"Still a tease?" Niall asked once he'd regained control of his breathing. Louis chuckled, wrapping his arms around Niall and burying his head in his neck.

"I've decided you can be a tease anytime." Louis chuckled again. "As long as you keep fucking me like that."

"That can definitely be arranged."

*

Louis knew his life was far from actually perfect, but sometimes it really seemed like it was. There only seemed to be one underlying issue, one that Harry seemed to have no qualms about reminding him of on a daily basis.

It wasn't like Louis _chose_ to be so afraid of actually labeling what he and Niall were, it just sort of happened. He wished that he could be like Harry and Liam, both finally able to accept each other's lives as their own and fit so well.

Louis knew if he could just let go of his insecurities and openly call Niall his boyfriend that everything would be okay. But try as he might, he couldn't make the words come out.

It was honestly driving him crazy, because he cared so, _so_ much about Niall and he was constantly terrified that Niall would change his mind and give Louis an ultimatum. He kept expecting it, only barely relieved every time he left Niall's side and it didn't come.

The last straw seemed to come when he was least expecting it, and he certainly didn't expect himself to be the one who cracked.

"… remind him that we're all doing dinner next week."

Louis let himself out of the flat as quickly as he could, because he didn't want Liam and Harry to see him freak out as much as he knew he was about to. He couldn't understand how he could go from beaming at the thought of Niall to a complete and utter wreck in five seconds flat.

He fought to steady his breathing as he rode down in the elevator, only slightly recovering when he reached the ground floor and walked towards the car that was waiting for him. The ride to Niall's flat was torture, mainly because Louis' mind was riddled with guilt.

He didn't deserve Niall. He didn't deserve to have someone who was so sweet and understanding of his insanity – he really didn't. Louis had no idea what kept Niall around, and he was actually making himself sick with worry.

By the time he reached Niall's door, Louis felt like he was about to vomit. Niall opened the door with a smile, though it immediately faltered when he saw the state Louis was in.

"Lou, what's wrong?" he pulled Louis inside, shutting the door behind him before forcing him to sit down on the couch.

"Why do you put up with me?" Louis asked, his voice cracking.

"What do you mean?" Niall asked, laughing slightly. He was sure he'd never heard a more ridiculous question.

"You said it yourself – I can flirt with you and hold your hand, but I can't tell my best friend that you're my boyfriend. What are you doing with a guy like me?" Louis hung his head, tugging at his hair as he started to cry.

"Lou," Niall said softly as he sat down and wrapped his arms around him. "Don't cry."

"You don't deserve this," Louis continued through his tears. "You shouldn't have to deal with my bullshit, I'm such a wreck and you don't-"

"I love you," Niall interrupted. Louis stiffened, jerking his head up out of his hands to stare at Niall.

"You…what?" Niall chuckled as he gently wiped Louis' eyes.

"I love you, you idiot."

"But…why?" Louis was entirely confused. He had no idea how or why Niall had possibly fallen in love with him when he was such a complete mess.

"Because you're you." He smiled. "Because of the way you look at me, the way you talk to me, even the way you're so protective of who you love that you can't let yourself be happy. I don't know why, but that makes me love you even more."

"You…love me?"

"I do." Niall leaned forward, kissing Louis lightly. "I love you."

Louis pressed his lips back against Niall's as he wrapped his arms around him, suddenly filled with the need to hold him as tightly as he could. The longer he held onto Niall, the better he felt. Niall's arms found their way around Louis as well, and he murmured soft comforts in Louis' ear.

"I love you too," Louis whispered. Niall pulled back slightly and Louis whimpered when he was forced to loosen his grip.

"You don't have to say it back if you're not ready," he said, running his thumb along Louis' cheek. The look in his eyes cemented everything in Louis, from his mind to his heart.

"I am ready. I love you." Louis smiled widely, pulling Niall back against him.

"Love you too," Niall said softly and Louis could feel him smiling against his shoulder.

"I'm ready," Louis repeated. He gently pulled away from Niall and pulled out his phone, looking at Niall once he'd dialed a number.

"Who're you calling?" Niall asked, not sure he understood what was going on.

"Harry." Louis smiled as he laced his fingers with Niall's. "Got something to tell him."

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://imlouisaf.tumblr.com)


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